Tag: lone travel

I’ve known this for a long time. It’s hard to get out of cowardly habits quite frankly. I was definitely one of those people who cared incredibly too much what other people thought.

But let me first tell you about my mom, the one person who inspires me.

She is fearless. She may say otherwise, but to me, she is the bravest person in the world.

It is bravery to travel and live abroad with two children by yourself not once, but twice. I could not have possibly done it.

That being said, growing up I was always told to be careful because it was dangerous for a woman to be told to travel alone. There was an increase in human trafficking, reports of rape and murder, etc…

This was drilled into my head as a young age. My father was definitely nervous one about it all. I’m sure we all have had this experience.

I may have been hard-headed about a lot of things, but I took this seriously. I knew that this happened. I wasn’t that stupid of a kid not to listen.

All of a sudden, blog posts, youtube videos, tweets…have all been talking about traveling alone. This is not just getting on a plane by yourself to meet others at the destination. This is to travel by yourself. Sightsee by yourself. Get a hotel room by yourself.

Now you must understand, I didn’t get it. For one thing, money. But another thing: isn’t that sort of dangerous? I thought.

But then, I just think about my mom traveling across the world to a foreign country with two young kids. I’ve had an example, among others, of a woman being bold enough to have an adventure despite the naysayers. What’s different now?

Validation. The world is finally given some indication that it is actually okay to travel and explore on your own…and that average people can do it!

I shouldn’t have needed it. Like I said, I’m a bit of a coward. But I’m glad there are other fabulous women like my mother who travel to follow in their footsteps.